Araneidae  Clerck, 1757 / Neoscona  Simon, 1864   8 species

Neoscona subfusca (C. L. Koch, 1837)

Description

Prosoma yellow to brown, covered with white hairs. Sternum light in the middle and darker along margins. Chelicerae with 3-4 denticles on promargin and 3 denticles on retromargin. Legs dark brown with light annulations. Opisthosoma: dorsum light, with folium-like pattern (variable), venter black, bordered with white and 2 white spots close to the spinnerets.

Body length male: 4.1-6.2 mm
Body length female: 5.4-11.2 mm
Additional information

E.g., in citrus groves

Distribution
  Presence
  No data
Global distribution (WSC 2026): Southern Europe, St. Helena, Africa, Turkey, Middle East, Ukraine, Caucasus, Russia (Europe) to Central Asia
Figures
Distribution List
Albania   (Deltshev et al., 2011b; Blick, 2018) ||| Algeria   (Bosmans & Hervé, 2021; Benhacene et al., 2023) ||| Azerbaijan   (Otto, 2022) ||| Bulgaria   (Blagoev et al., 2018) ||| Croatia   (Milosevic, 2002) ||| Cyprus   (Bosmans et al., 2019c) ||| Egypt   (El-Hennawy, 2017a) ||| France   (Le Peru, 2007) ||| France / Corsica   (Le Peru, 2007) ||| Georgia   (Otto, 2022) ||| Greece   (Bosmans & Chatzaki, 2005) ||| Greece / Crete   (Bosmans et al., 2013) ||| Italy   (Isaia et al., 2025) ||| Italy / Sardinia   (Isaia et al., 2025) ||| Italy / Sicily   (Isaia et al., 2025) ||| Libya   (Elkrew et al., 2024) ||| Malta   (Pfliegler et al., 2017) ||| Montenegro   (Naumova et al., 2019a) ||| Morocco   (Bosmans & Hervé, 2021; Benhalima & Bosmans, 2024) ||| North Macedonia   (Komnenov, 2014) ||| Portugal   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Romania   (Weiss & Petrișor, 1999) ||| Russia, Southern   (Otto, 2022) ||| Serbia   (Stanković, 2023) ||| Slovenia   (Kostanjšek & Kuntner, 2015) ||| Spain   (Branco et al., 2019; Mestre et al., 2012) ||| Spain / Balearic Islands   (Branco et al., 2019) ||| Switzerland   (Maurer & Hänggi, 1990) ||| Tunisia   (Bosmans & Hervé, 2021; Kmira et al., 2025) ||| Turkey (Asia)   (Danışman et al., 2025a) ||| Turkey (Europe)   (Demircan Aksan & Topçu, 2022c) ||| Ukraine   (Kovblyuk et al., 2016) |||
References

Benhacene R, Adjami A, Hadjeb A, Kermiche K, Ouakid M L (2023) Bibliographic checklist of the Algerian spider fauna (Araneae). Zootaxa 5352: 301-357 pdf

Benhalima S, Bosmans R (2024) First historical checklist of spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) from Morocco, between 1840–2024. Zootaxa 5555: 407-535 pdf

Blagoev G, Deltshev C, Lazarov S, Naumova M (2018) The spiders (Araneae) of Bulgaria. Version: August 2018. National Museum of Natural History, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Online at http://www.nmnhs.com/spiders-bulgaria/ (accessed on 10.9.2018) pdf

Blick T (2018) A small collection of spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) from the River Vjosa, Albania – with an updated spider checklist of Albania. Acta ZooBot Austria 155: 213-232 pdf

Bosmans R, Chatzaki M (2005) A catalogue of the spiders of Greece – a critical review of all spider species cited from Greece with their localities. Nieuwsbrief van de Belgische arachnologische Vereniging 20 (2, suppl.): 1-124 pdf

Bosmans R, Hervé C (2021) Less is more: eight new synonyms in Mediterranean spiders (Araneae), with a new Pelecopsis species from Tunisia (Linyphiidae). Arachnologische Mitteilungen 61: 58-64 pdf

Bosmans R, Van Keer J, Russell-Smith A, Hadjiconstantis M, Komnenov M, Bosselaers J, Huber S, McCowan D, Snazell R, Decae A, Zoumides C, Kielhorn K-H, Oger P (2019c) Spiders of Cyprus (Araneae). A catalogue of all currently known species from Cyprus. Newsletter of the Belgian Arachnological Society 34, Suppl. 1: 1-173 pdf

Bosmans R, Van Keer J, Russell-Smith A, Kronestedt T, Alderweireldt M, Bosselaers J, De Koninck H (2013) Spiders of Crete (Araneae). A catalogue of all currently known species from the Greek island of Crete. Nieuwsbrief van de Belgische Arachnologische Vereniging 28 (Suppl. 1): 1-147 pdf

Branco V V, Morano E, Cardoso P (2019) An update to the Iberian spider checklist (Araneae). Zootaxa 4614: 201-254 pdf

Danışman T, Kunt K B, Özkütük R S, Coşar İ (2025a) The checklist of the spiders of Turkey. Version 2025 [last updated 01 December 2025], online at http://www.spidersofturkey.info pdf

Deltshev C, Vrenozi B, Blagoev G, Lazarov S (2011b) Spiders of Albania – faunistic and zoogeographical review (Arachnida: Araneae). Acta Zoologica Bulgarica 63: 125-144 pdf

Demircan Aksan N, Topçu A (2022c) A preliminary checklist of the spider fauna of European Türkiye. Serket 19: 39-56 pdf

El-Hennawy H K (2017a) A list of Egyptian spiders (revised in 2017). Serket 15: 167-183 pdf

Elkrew H, Hamza A, Ghana S, Shaibi T, Swehli A I, Elmareme H, Ahmad A (2024) Checklist of the spiders (Araneae) of Libya. Pakistan Journal of Life and Social Sciences 22: 19346-19369 pdf

Isaia M, Tolve M, Pantini P (2025) Araneae.it: 2.0: the new updated version of the digital catalog of the Italian spiders and other arachnids (Arachnida: Araneae, Opiliones, Scorpiones, Pseudoscorpiones, Palpigradi, Solifugae). Fragmenta Entomologica 57: 197-204 pdf

Kmira G, Nasri-Ammar, Petillon J, Bosmans R (2025) Catalog of the spiders of Tunisia (Arachnida: Araneae). Zootaxa 5641: 1-95 pdf

Komnenov M (2014) Spider fauna of the Osogovo Mt. Range, Northeastern Macedonia. Fauna Balkana 2: 1-267 pdf

Kostanjšek R, Kuntner M (2015) Araneae Sloveniae: a national spider species checklist. ZooKeys 474: 1-91 pdf

Kovblyuk M M, Gnelitsa V A, Nadolny A A, Kastrygina Z A, Kukushkin, O V (2016) Spiders (Arachnida: Aranei) of the Karadag Nature Reserve (Crimea). Ekosystemy 3(33): 3-288 pdf

Le Peru B (2007) Catalogue et répartition des araignées de France. Revue Arachnologique 16: 1-468 pdf

Levy G (1998a) Twelve genera of orb-weaver spiders (Araneae, Araneidae) from Israel. Israel Journal of Zoology 43: 311-365 pdf

Maurer R, Hänggi A (1990) Katalog der schweizerischen Spinnen. Documenta Faunistica Helvetiae 12 pdf

Mestre L, Piñol J, Barrientos J A, Cama A, Espadaler X (2012) Effects of ant competition and bird predation on the spider assemblage of a citrus grove. Basic and Applied Ecology 13: 355-362 pdf

Milosevic B (2002) Aranea – Popis vrsta – Checklist. Hrvatsko entomološko društvo – Inventar entomofaune Hrvatske [Aranea – List of species – Checklist. Croatian Entomological Society – Inventory of Croatian entomofauna]. pdf

Naumova M, Lazarov S, Deltshev C (2019a) Faunistic diversity of the spiders in Montenegro (Arachnida: Araneae). Ecologica Montenegrina 22: 50-89 pdf

Otto S (2022) Caucasian spiders. A faunistic database on the spiders of the Caucasus Ecoregion. Database version 02.2022. Internet: caucasus-spiders.info.

Pesarini C (unpubl.)

Pfliegler W A, Schönhofer A, Niedbała W, Vella P, Sciberras A, Vella A (2017) New records of mites (Acari) and harvestmen (Opiliones) from Malta with a preliminary checklist of Maltese Arachnida. Soil Organisms 89: 85-110 pdf

Pintilioaie A-M, Urák I (2022a) First record of Neoscona byzanthina (Araneae: Araneidae) in Romania. Arachnologische Mitteilungen 63: 1-3 pdf

Stanković B (2023) Diversity of spider fauna in the area of Jagodina (Serbia). In: Seydoşoğlu, S. & Durna Aydin, Ö (eds.) International Cukurova Agriculture and Veterinary Congress 4. Adana, pp. 590-615 pdf

Weiss I, Petrișor A (1999) List of the spiders (Arachnida: Araneae) from Romania. Travaux du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle “Grigore Antipa” 41: 79-107 pdf

WSC (2026) World Spider Catalog. Version 27. Natural History Museum Bern, online at http://wsc.nmbe.ch (20.5.2026) doi: 10.24436/2 pdf

Updates
04-07-2025 Distribution update Detail
23-06-2025 Distribution update Detail
08-06-2025 Distribution update Detail
18-12-2024 Distribution update Detail
30-05-2023 Distribution update Detail
23-03-2023 Image insert
23-03-2023 Distribution update Detail
18-01-2023 Distribution update Detail
01-06-2022 Image insert
27-04-2021 Image insert
27-04-2021 Distribution update Detail
26-04-2021 Distribution insert Detail
26-04-2021 Distribution update Detail
21-10-2015 Distribution update Detail
01-12-2013 Distribution update Detail